Are You Non-Racist or Antiracist? Racism and Race In America

“In a racist society, it is not enough to be non-racist, 

we must be anti-racist.”

-- Angela Y. Davis, American political activist and academic

Being an anti-racist involves the active process of identifying and eliminating racism by changing systems, organizational structures, policies and practices and attitudes, so that power is redistributed and shared equitably. “Anti-racism” is defined as the practice of identifying, challenging, and changing the values, structures and behaviors that perpetuate systemic racism.

Ibram X. Kendi, founding director of the Antiracist Research and Policy Center and professor of history and international relations at American University, explains the difference in response to racism by a “non-racist” and an “antiracist”:

“The term non-racist, has really historically been a term of denial. Meaning, it’s someone who is expressing racist ideas, or supporting racist policies, and when charged with being racist, they typically say, 'No, I’m not racist.'

“While antiracist has a very clear conception of what it is – meaning if racist ideas suggest racial hierarchy, antiracist ideas suggest racial equality. And if racist policies lead to racial inequity, antiracist policy leads to racial equity.”

(Zenobia Jeffries Warfield. “How to Be an Antiracist: A Conversation With Ibram X. Kendi.” Yes Solutions Journalism. 25, 2019.)

Note: Keni is one of America’s foremost historians and leading anti-racist voices. He is a #1 New York Times bestselling author and the Founding Director of The Antiracist Research & Policy Center at American University in Washington, DC.

A professor of history and international relations, Kendi is a contributor at The Atlantic and CBS News. He is the author of The Black Campus Movement, which won the W.E.B. Du Bois Book Prize, and Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas In America, which won the National Book Award for Nonfiction in 2016. At 34 years old, Kendi was the youngest ever winner of the NBA for Nonfiction. He grew up dreaming about playing in the NBA (National Basketball Association), and ironically he ended up joining the other NBA.

Kendi had become ever more convinced that racism, not race, was the central force in American history. He reached back to 1635 to show how malleable racism could be. He wrote: “The preachers who justified slavery used racist arguments, but so did many of the abolitionists – the ubiquity of racism meant that no one was immune to its seductive power, including black people.”

Kendi found statements as reflections of a persistent but delusional idea that something is wrong with black people. The only thing wrong, he maintained, was racism, and the country’s failure to confront and defeat it. Kelefa Sanneh of The New Yorker explains …

“Kendi is convinced that racism can be objectively identified, and therefore fought, and one day vanquished. He argues that we should stop thinking of 'racist' as a pejorative, and start thinking of it as a simple description, so that we can join him in the difficult work of becoming antiracists.

“'One either endorses the idea of a racial hierarchy as a racist or racial equality as an antiracist,' Kendi writes, adding that it isn’t possible to be simply 'not racist.' He thinks that all of us must choose a side; in fact, he thinks that we are already choosing, all the time.”

(Kelefa Sanneh. The Fight to Redefine Racism. The New Yorker. August 19, 2019.)

Kendi points to the fact that racist has a dictionary definition, one that should be applied evenly to anyone, of any race, who expresses racist ideas or who supports racist policies.

He contends that white supremacists have won the rhetorical battle by successfully positioning the term “racist” as a personal attack, that being racist makes you a bad person. Kendi says …

“We should not be saying this is who a person is. We should be saying this is what a person is doing in the moment. And the reason that’s critical is because when you study the history of racist ideas and antiracist ideas, you find the same person saying both racist and antiracist ideas in the same book, in the same speech, in the same article. So then, how would you define that person in a general sense?”

Racist power and policy are the problems, not a group of people. Kendi says …

“It boils down to this: If one thinks the fundamental racist problem in society is 'those bad people,' then one can essentially do nothing. But if racism is bad policies, then you need a collective effort to change those policies.

“Once we get over our denial, and once we admit the ways in which we’ve consumed racist ideas, then we next try to adopt antiracist ideas. There’s nothing wrong with any racial groups."

(Katrina Schwartz. “How Ibram X. Kendi's Definition of Antiracism Applies to Schools.” KQED, PBS. December 18, 2019.)

By eliminating the space between racist and antiracist, Kendi is calling on everyone who considers themselves to be antiracist to back up those ideas with actions that change policy. Of course, confronting racism can be very difficult. Many people do not even want to consider how racism plays out in their lives. "Americans want to heal America of racism without pain. That’s impossible," Kendi said. There is no middle ground for an antiracist.

Can white people really give up their privilege and be okay with it? Giving it up means whites would have to admit they have power and privilege by the mere fact that their skin is pale. Giving it up will make white people truly sensitive to the issues of racism, classism, sexism, and homophobia; however, most whites have not even acknowledged their privilege.

And, God forbid a person of color says or does anything to make white activists feel uncomfortable. Many a white supporter has drawn lines of resistance at the first signs of sacrifice. These people assume they know what is good for people of color, and they want to be the deciders of any change or reform. In short, they – the white majority – want to be the doorkeepers who can close the necessary portals to equality and justice at will.

On the other hand, guilt can also allow whites to maintain the status quo. Guilt creates paralysis, and then guilt transfers the responsibility for change to people of color. Guilt continues the aspect of racism wherein white people put people of color in a situation of taking care of them.

For white people learning to become antiracists requires a re‐education process. Whites must unlearn their thorough racist conditioning to re‐educate and re‐condition themselves as antiracists. This is unfamiliar territory for whites who are used to traditional roles. Part of re‐tooling is replacing discarded patterns with new behaviors. This often requires repeated attempts – whites must commit to a process that requires self-sacrifice.

“I'm colorblind” negates cultural values, norms, and expectations of people of color. Saying you don't “see color” is also denying you “see” your own whiteness. Saying so is a defense – it stifles progress. Why would people mind that you notice they are black, brown, white, or yellow? Color consciousness does not equal racism. We should respect each color of the fabric that binds our nationality. As we do this, we must also call out racist behaviors … of all people.

"To be antiracist is to think nothing is behaviorally wrong or right – inferior or superior – with any of the racial groups. Whenever the antiracist sees individuals behaving positively or negatively, the antiracist sees exactly that: individuals behaving positively or negatively, not representatives of whole races. To be antiracist is to deracialize behavior, to remove the tattooed stereotype from every racialized body. Behavior is something humans do, not races do."

– Ibram X. Kendi